ORIGIN

Effluvium was not a smart creature. Nor a creature who was familiar with fear. And thus, it had returned to Cetus. It was larger now. Its jaws grown to bear another mismatched pair, and a speckling of eyes. It eyed the patches of water. Curious. It batted at one with a hand. No reaction. The gears in its brain were churning. It scrambled over it, then turned to look back. There was no movement of water. No flash of teeth, or deep, gurgling voice.

The swamp was afraid of Effluvium? Effluvium had beaten swamp with teeth. Finding its hunting grounds to be suitable, Effluvium got back to what it did every day, in every other cave. Look for food. Effluvium licked its face. They had had little fish since they ran from Cetus. Hunting in other caves, it had searched for land creatures. And the gembound had developed a craving for fish. And the flavor Cetus' mud imparted on the food.

"Fish," It gurgled. The word they had learned from that group of not-foods. Their gurgle was softer this time. The past had taught them sometimes being quiet was better. And also in case the swamp-with-teeth changed its mind, and would attack once more. Effluvium lumbered away from the patch of water they had crossed. They looked for a deeper patch of water, its' predatory instincts at work. And when the slow, plodding monster made it to a deep pool, they looked in.

Silent. Drooling. Limbs flexing. Effluvium spotted movement in the dark water. It pounced. Its arms landed on the base of a dead sapling, hidden within the water. And the rest of the sapling, following through with how physics worked, rocketed up, smacking Effluvium in the middle of its' face. Effluvium blinked, shocked. The swamp knew it was here. And the swamp had attacked it once more. It snarled, angry. Its teeth and claws ripped into the sapling. Biting and ripping the waterlogged trunk.

"When I speak."

When I think.(Will never be used)

The splintering, cracking sounds were what drew his attention. They were puzzling. Dragon was familiar with all the sounds of Cetus and this--this was not among them.

The distant cracks and shatters were the work of a Gembound, or something else foreign to the swamp. He was tempted to fly, but that was not subtle and with an unknown thing snapping wood loud enough for him to hear through the muffling mist, subtlety was required.

His dark, bumpy body slipped into the Heart, instead, the softest splash accompanying his crawling down from the shore. Then he began slow and languid sweeps of his tail, dropping low against the waterline so that only eyes and snout protruded, spying as best he could with senses and with mgic.

Magicka flickered up, and imagery came clear. Red shapes, here and there, throughout the cave: and Dragon readily identified them as he went.

Lake-ward: fish, throughout the black depths; the great, slumbering form of Aquarian curled beneath, his behemoth form dwarfing everything Dragon had ever seen--even Raheerah. Land-ward: a few birds and bats, high up in the trees; spiders, their red forms sluggish and slow, blood flow near nonexistent. Cave deer: distant, mainly, keeping far from the heart and its predators as much as possible, Dragon among them-... and what was this?

A hulking, malformed creature: a confusing shape, and unfamiliar. Chaotic--broken? Was it damaged, thrashing in pain?

Concerned, alarmed, wary, Dragon drifted closer in silence.

What he saw was... atrocious, and the alligator didn't think of much as ugly, or monstrous--but it was hard not to apply those descriptors to this-... this thing.

This moving flesh-thing that stank of old meat, that tore mindlessly at the wood.

Dragon quickly asked himself several important questions.

First, was this thing sentient? Could it be reasoned with?
Second, was it a strong swimmer? Not much could combat an alligator underwater but it was a risk he was not willing to take. Survival first, after all.

He slipped backward, moving farther out into the Heart, gathering his magicka back to him just in case. All else aside, even if it had magic, he doubted it could fly.

Then he called out, the thing's form barely visible--a streak of red--in the periodic parting of the mists.

"You, out there; are you injured? What are you doing?" he called--and tensed for potential attack.

Effluvium's head whipped up, the dead sapling cracking and breaking with the movement. A pair of muddy twigs stuck out of its jaws. Its multitude of eyes blinked, wet, as it looked around for the source of the voice. First the swamp attacked, then it spoke. A tentacle curled. It was a repeat of earlier events. Events ingrained into its brain. The voice had come from further than it could see. Effluvium was immediately cautious. Whatever it could not see had a chance to be swamp-with-teeth. And that had made smoking and heat. Effluvium did not like that. The voice was not the same as Hunger's, but maybe swamp had many voices. Effluvium did not know what 'injured' was. But it knew you meant itself. And that was the extent of its knowledge.

"Eat meat," Effluvium said simply. The twigs in its mouth dropped into the water as it spoke. Its' grasp on language had slightly improved over the course of two cycles. Just barely.

"Effluvium eat Hunger," it followed up. In case the creature was in fact swamp-with-teeth, it couldn't hurt to throw that in. As far as Effluvium knew, and that wasn't much, Hunger was the name for the swamp. So it did its' best to imply it was the only one who could, or would, be eating it today.

"When I speak."

When I think.(Will never be used)

'Eat meat.' Well, that part was-... questionable. It was meat, by looks, but Dragon could see no food--only wood. He drew a little closer to be sure, striking the mud of the shore and peering through the mist, but no.

What did it mean?

'Eat hunger?' For a moment, that gave him pause; did it mean Hunger, the Gembound? Dragon didn't think so--he'd seen Hunger a day or two ago (though they hadn't spoken--the eldritch thing rarely offered even greetings). Did it mean it was eating, because it was hungry..?

He hauled himself up onto the shore's edge, getting a better look at it. It was bizarre-looking; ugly, yes, just a mass of flesh and eyes. Dragon was... baffled, to say the least. His suspicious mind wondered if Aquarian would eat it and then, warily, whether that was the point: what if someone had sent a lump of sentient, poisoned flesh to kill him?

"What is Effluvium? Is that you? Who sent you?" he added, cautious.

His mind revisited the 'hunger' thing, and he wondered if it had eaten Hunger. He'd be disappointed, if it had, and he doubted it, but the thought lingered nonetheless.

That most definitely did not answer his (or almost any) questions. Dragon stared, for a beat--and when the thing first demanded fish, and then opened its mouth like some giant, monstrous baby meat-bird, he burst into laughter.

It was hearty laughter--a guffaw--as much of surprise as anything else.

"Well, catch fish, then!" he responded, pushing back to float a little in the water. He was glad this thing hadn't found the offering pile yet, at least--hopefully a safe distance northeast from here, in any case. He had no doubt it would've eaten rotten with not, like Aquarian; and he still wondered if that might not be the point.

Effluvium's mouth clamped shut. The laughter was a strange new thing. One it didn't know what to make of. It hadn't heard a sound like that from any other not-food. And it wasn't sure if it were a good or bad sound. They watched the Aligator move--and wait. It was suggesting Effluvium caught the fish itself. Effluvium. It was supposed to be fed!

"No!" Effluvium snarled. The alligator was moving away from it. And it wasn't a good moving away. It was not searching for food. Laughter was a bad sound, then. It made to chase after Dragon, but didn't get far. The chill of water touched its hands. It raised them and backpedaled, before shaking the substance from its claws. "Fish!" It yelled after Dragon from the shore. The not-food was supposed to obey! "You fish! No Effluvium!"

Dragon wasn't coming back. Effluvium snarled, and pounded feet on the muddy bank. It rolled around, swiping at the ground around it. Digging furrows into the mud. The alligator was a BAD not-food. Was Effluvium allowed to eat bad not-foods? Maybe it wouldn't notice if it lost a toe. Or two. But the alligator was in the middle of the swamp water, and Effluvium was not setting foot in there. If there was one thing in there, swamp-with-teeth couldn't be too far away. It would, however, find its own food.

Effluvium's jaws clamped and unclamped. It took in air in a strange way, like a flower furling and unfurling, with great gasps of breath. Except the flower was made of teeth and jaws. There was a guttural snort. Effluvium scented food. Food all around it. But there was a big food scent. Somewhere it couldn't see. Effluvium licked its chops. "Eat," It gurgled, and set off to follow the food trail. Sniffing at the ground as a bloodhound might.

"When I speak."

When I think.(Will never be used)

Dragon made no move to follow it. He tried to watch it with his sight, but his interest in it was limited to how it might be of use to, or a threat to, the Children of Rot or Aquarian.

It seemed of extremely limited intelligence (not far off Hunger, he thought, dourly), and essentially a pile of spoiled-brat-meat.

He stayed in the water, then, silent, observing from a distance with his magic, and nothing more.

Effluvium turned its head to Dragon for a moment. Small eyes blinking. It wasn't coming after them. It still hadn't brought food. There wasn't even anything in its mouth. Effluvium snorted, and its tail swept the ground. A quick, angry strike. The meat thing's head lowered. Back to following the scent trail. It drifted northeast. Effluvium drooled, quite obviously. It didn't know why there was a large food scent nearby, but it didn't think of that. Its brain was simple in the way it thought

"Food," it gurgled to itself, the last letter ending in a snap. With that, Effluvium waddled off. Surprisingly fast, excited by the prospect of food. It was headed northeast, to where the food it'd scented earlier laid.

"When I speak."

When I think.(Will never be used)

Dragon followed, swimming languidly (yet with surprising speed, despite lazy sweeps of his huge tail) alongside the shore. For awhile he just followed, but realization struck and then rose into alarm as he noted Effluvium's beeline direction.

It was going for the offering pile.

Normally he had no problem offering out a bit of food to travellers, but he still wondered if this thing were here to somehow poison Aquarian. He didn't trust that. For a moment he wished, desperately, that he had the mind-reading magic of some other Gembound but, failing that, fire would just have to do.

He grunted, resigning himself to confrontation. Maybe he'd have to destroy this thing--or try, at least; he had no idea if he could even damage a wall of flesh--to protect his Father.

Chaotic wings spread from his back, forming from nothing, twists of black and red drifting out like a cloud and forming. Horns pushed back from his head--ethereal, like the wings, yet those magic wings were now bearing him aloft with slow, deep thumps, their fog-like magic dispersing and forming with each beat. Dragon swept out of the water, and up along the shore, speeding ahead and then turning, thumping himself down before Effluvium.

"WAIT," he bellowed, eyeing the stampeding hunger-monster. "YOU CANNOT GO THAT WAY." He hoped that'd be enough to stop it long enough for conversation--if the thing could even manage that... but if not, a display of threat might be in order. Dragon wasn't a violent sort by nature (though once in combat, he thoroughly enjoyed it)--he didn't want to resort to actual harm if he didn't have to.

Even if this thing was a walking hunk of meat.